UPDATE: We’ve updated the post to include patch notes for Minecraft snapshot 15w43b, which debuted on Thursday morning. Scroll to the bottom of the article for complete patch notes for Mojang’s latest preview of Minecraft Update 1.9.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The preview build of Minecraft Update 1.9 is now online, a few hours later than we’ve come to expect from the Mojang crew, and there are a handful of new features for Minecraft fans to look forward to in Minecraft snapshot 15w43a.

Hot on the heels of this morning’s Halloween Mash-Up Pack announcement, Mojang has published the latest in a string of Minecraft Update 1.9 preview builds that first surfaced back in July. The contents of Minecraft snapshot 15w43a might not be as exciting as some of the Minecraft builds we’ve seen in recent weeks. But Mojang does introduce a couple of noteworthy features in this week’s preview of Minecraft Update 1.9, including data-driven loot tables and a new subtitle/caption system.

Sadly, there’s still no word on when we might see the final build of Minecraft Update 1.9. With Mojang still introducing new features at a steady clip — including flight, new enchantments and dual-wielding — it’s hard to imagine we’ll see the next big Minecraft update in the next few weeks. We typically see a few weeks’ worth of bug-fix snapshots, otherwise devoid of new content, before Mojang releases the public build of each new Minecraft patch. And the last three weeks have brought major new additions to Minecraft, suggesting we’re still a few weeks removed from the debut of Minecraft Update 1.9.

But there’s still a chance we could see Minecraft Update 1.9 released before the end of 2015. That would give Mojang more than nine weeks, minus holidays, to finish work on Minecraft‘s ninth free expansion. Then again, I suspect most fans would be willing to wait a bit longer if it means Mojang will continue adding new features to Minecraft throughout the holiday season.

Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more Minecraft coverage throughout the rest of 2015 and for however long Microsoft and Mojang continue to support Minecraft in the months ahead.